The five shortlisted books include 'Escape Artist' by Sridala Swami, 'Central Time' by Ranjit Hoskote, 'When God is a Traveler by Arundhathi Subramaniam, 'Fire Altar' by Keki N Daruwalla and 'Selected Poems' by Joy Goswami translated by Sampurna Chattarji.

The award, worth Rs 2 lakh, was established earlier this year by Suhel Seth, the founder of the prize in memory of the late Sardar Khushwant Singh and is open to Indian poets writing in English or Indian language translation to English.